A revolutionary way of performing weight loss surgery without having to cut the abdomen is to be launched at a Greater Manchester hospital.

Surgeons at the private Alexandra Hospital, in Cheadle, will access patients’ stomachs through their mouths in a pioneering operation.

The surgeon will insert special instruments through a flexible tube into the mouth and create folds in the stomach – reducing the amount of food it can hold. This helps the patient feel fuller faster during meals and eat less.

The hospital is only the second place in Britain to introduce the procedure, which is only available to people who are classified obese and costs £7,000.

Doctors say the technology will cut recovery times, allowing patients to have an operation on a Friday, return home that day and be back at work by Monday.

The operation – performed under general anaesthetic – is also thought to offer a reduced risk of infection, minimised pain, shorter hospital stays and no visible external scars.

Anselm Agwunobi, consultant bariatric surgeon at The Alexandra, said: “We are delighted to be offering incision-less weight loss surgery for the first time in the north west.

“This new procedure widens bariatric surgery options to people who may have struggled with controlling their weight through diet and exercise, and those who currently do not meet NHS requirements.”

He is one of two consultants at the hospital trained to carry out the procedure. They expect to perform it on more than 100 patients this year.

A spokeswoman said they had already received a high number of inquiries from potential patients and hope to carry out the first procedure within weeks.

People are considered obese if they have a body mass index (BMI) – a measure of body fat based on height and weight – of 30-40.

The operation was pioneered in the US and is also at a private hospital in Southampton.

Statistics show that almost one in four adults in Greater Manchester are obese and researchers predict that more than 1.7m men and women in the region will be overweight by 2020.

Many health trusts are now refusing to fund the operations on the NHS but new research suggests it is good value for money – saving the cost of treating long-term conditions including diabetes.